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The Department of Labor has finally entered the age of “Big Data.” The Labor Department is making a significant step forward into the 21st Century by requiring employers in the highest-risk sectors to electronically provide OSHA information that employers have been recording since shortly after the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1971.

Unfortunately, until now—in contrast to its sister agency the Mine Safety and Health Administration, as well as other federal labor and public health agencies—OSHA has failed to make most of the covered employers send these data directly to the Labor Department.

This is exactly the data OSHA needs to effectively target its limited number of inspections as well as its compliance assistance programs. It is unfathomable that OSHA did not have easy access to it before.

It's growing apparent to many Americans that even if you do all the right things, like get a college education, that chances are you won't get ahead. In a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, six in 10 Americans said the government should do more to fix income inequality, and that the only people who actually advance are the few people at the top.Inequality Troubles Americans Across Party Lines, Times/CBS Poll Finds - The New York Times

Last week, over 200 part-time adjunct professors at Ithaca College organized and successfully formed a union with the Service Employees International Union. Sarah Grunberg, teaching in the Sociology department said: "This will not only make the college stronger as a whole but will also continue to set an example nationally that part-time faculty deserve better working conditions and that coming together can and does facilitate positive change."Ithaca College Part-time Faculty Join SEIU Local 200 United - The Lansing Star

In hopes of improving working conditions for manicurists in New York. Effective immediately, every nail salon in New York is required to post a bill of rights in plain sight for nail workers and their customers. Thanks to The New York Times for their investigative reporting which revealed widespread exploitation in the nail salon industry, manicurists in New York will now be aware of their employee rights. New York Nail Salons Now Required to Post Workers’ Bill of Rights - The New York Times

The fight for $15 gained another victory, Los Angeles broke will increase their minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. It's another major victory for low-wage workers across the country and shows a clear change in American politics, proving that when working people stand-up and speak-out they can change social standards and improve their lives.A Fascinating Minimum-Wage Experiment Is About to Unfold - The New Yorker

Great news, Facebook boosted pay to $15 an hour for its contract workers! Just yesterday, Facebook announced it would require its US contractors and vendors to pay their workers at least $15 an hour, provide paid time-off for sick days and vacation and offer good benefits.Facebook gives low-wage workers a boost - CNN Money

On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the formation of a task force to protect manicurists of nail salons from labor and health violations just days after the New York Times reported widespread human rights violations within the industry. But nail salons aren't the only industry that has issues, little oversight is all too common for workers in agriculture, the hydraulic fracturing oil industry and restaurants.Nail salon workers aren’t the only ones who need more protections - Washington Post